There is known an instrument for ligating bone tissues, which comprises an anvil body, a hook with an avil for bending the legs of staples, and a staple driving anvil which accommodates a staple pusher.
The hook is composed of two parts one of which is coupled to the anvil body, while the other is reciprocatable transversely to the anvil body. The second part of the hook is driven by a relatively movable assembly mounted on the anvil body and composed of a nut and a screw.
The staple driving body is hollow. It accommodates staples and is installed in guides provided on the anvil body.
The staple driving body is reciprocated along the anvil body by a relatively movable assembly composed of a nut and a screw, and the staple driving body moves along the anvil body toward the anvil of the hook.
The staple pusher is provided with a drive for pushing the staples out of the staple driving body so that the legs of the staples pierce the bone tissue and are brought into engagement with hollows provided in the anvil. In doing so, they are bent and ligate bone tissues (cf. FRG Pat. No. 2,109,604 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,818).
The instrument in question is intended for dealing with simple fractures of ribs, clavicles, jaws, etc.
In cases of multiple fractures of ribs, the use of this instrument for osteosynthesis requires multiple incisions of soft tissues of the thoracic wall in fractured areas. This prolongs the operation and makes it traumatic. In severe cases such operations may lead to extremely serious consequences. In dealing with rib fractures in the spinal part of the thoracic cage, it is necessary to dissect the broadest muscle of the back. The dissection results in total disability of that muscle and increases the total amount of blood lost during the operation.